The Sydney Womens Giving Circle

The Sydney Women's Giving Circle provides a practical way for a group of supporters to pool their giving and help women and girls throughout Sydney who are facing tough times.

In 2017-18 in our first round we funded three projects:

Enterprising Women, a project run by the Sylvanvale Foundation

Bump Up, a project run by Raise Foundation; and

Supporting Our Sisters, a project run by Shakti International

Shortly we will announce our next round of projects to fund. You can make a tax deductible donation to the Sydney Women's Giving Circle - one off or set up a regular contribution via the button below and if you would like to stay in touch please subscribe to updates in the link at the top of this page.

Each year the giving circle will select a new group of projects to fund that will make a difference to the lives and future of women and girls in our city.

The Sydney Women's Giving Circle is a sub-fund of Sydney Community Foundation’s Sydney Women’s Fund. Sydney Community Foundation is a registered Deductible Gift Recipient.

Giving Circles have become a popular way of investing financial, personal and professional resources by a group of donors who have particular interest in an area of need; our focus is on donating to programs that give women the ability to build their own financial security at different stages of their lives. A recent ABC Lateline program with a piece on Giving Circles can be watched here.

Anyone who is interested in boosting the impact of their giving through joining a group and actively supporting SWGC’s aim should consider supporting the initiative.

News and events

January 2019 - Next steps on the Sydney Women's Giving Circle.

A year after our launch we are holding an event on Wednesday 6 February to celebrate the grants made to our first three projects and get our fundraising started for 2019. It's also a chance to learn more about Sydney Women's Giving Circle and the benefits of collective giving.

One of our first projects this year will be supporting Mona Mahamed, the founder of Bankstown Community Support Services Inc, and her work with girls and women in her local area through language and skills workshops. Mona's story is extraordinary and uplifting, and the community resources she has been providing are grassroots examples of helping women get the skills they need to face challenges from isolation and lack of financial independence. Our focus, as always, will be on practical steps we can take as a group to ensure her programs are sustainable.

We'll also hear from Jane Jose, CEO of the Sydney Community Foundation who will share the research results of the Sydney Women's Fund Portrait III which found 82% of women are finding it harder to live in Sydney than ten years ago. And it reveals that the greatest fear for Sydney women right now is the cost of living and lack of financial security.

If you'd like to join us for this evening, hosted by MinterEllison please click here to book your ticket.

We are looking forward to working together to make the most impact in improving the lives of Sydney women this year.

December 2018 - Scentre Group have added us to their community giving program for matching donations by employees. What a coup!

July 2018 - Our first grants have been made.

October 2017 - The Sydney Women’s Giving Circle is off and running!

Just $330 is enough to pay for a TAFE registration and transform a young woman’s life, Vicki Condon of the Bump Up program told the launch of the Sydney Women’s Giving Circle in late October.

That TAFE course is a passport for young mothers who need some work skills to let them earn a living, and get their life back on track, she explained to a room full of men and women keen to hear more about collective giving.

Some of these young women go on to complete high school, with one participant then studying at university, qualifying as a social worker and now helping in the program.

Bump Up is one of the three causes being supported by the SWGC which is designed to bring a group of donors together to direct funds specifically to women and girls who are financially marginalised.

Giving Circles are big in the US, where they started about 20 years ago and have since spread around the world. They are a bit like a book club or investors circle where members pool their funds to get maximum impact, usually meeting and donating regularly.

People joining giving circles, according to US research, donate more, donate more strategically and know more about their communities than other donors. But the idea is still new to Australia and there are only about 17 circles established here to date.

One of these is the Melbourne Women’s Fund, set up in 2014, which is going from strength to strength and now has 115 members making grants to more than 10 programs.

There was lots of enthusiasm and pledges of support at the Sydney launch which funded three causes (more details on the next page of this site).

Our aim is to make donating and participating as stress free as possible - we are a sub-fund of the Sydney Women’s Fund and your donations are tax deductible. We will be regularly posting information online about what we are doing, the funds raised and what our programs are doing.

And there will be a few catch ups along the way to talk about where we want our money to go in the future. Meanwhile any offers of help are more than welcome to keep the momentum from our launch and spread the word to potential members and through organisations.

To register your interest in future events and news please subscribe to our mailing list at the top of this page.

Also regular updates will be shared here on the progress of fundraising for the initial three projects that the Sydney Women's Giving Circle supports.